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Geotgiafovyer
An overview
agony and ecstai|r
of Israeli $ $ $ sports
by'HeekeH Cohen ;
It i> sports, sports, sports, st
any cost in Israel. With the Mac
cabiah already forgotten the
soccer and basketball national
' leagues are getting ready for
their respective seasons, and so
far as the Holy Land is concern
ed it is almost winter, despite
the heat which prevails in the
country this month. f _
Soccer, which is a paying
proposition, finds it possible to
pay all of its “amateur” players
in ths national league, one way
or another. On our recent visit to
Tel Aviv we learned that the
Maccabi Tel Aviv Soccer Team is
prepared to pay any amount of
money in order to secure a
goalie. Apparently, their present
guardian of the nets isn’t as
competent as they desire. The
pressure is on Maccabi Tel Aviv
in all areas of sports perfor
mance since the basketball team
won the European Cup cham
pionship a few months ago.
Speaking of Maccabi Tel Aviv
and basketball, it may not come
as a surprise to many, but the
pressure to stay on top is so keen
that the management is
searching high and low for out
standing Jewish players. There
aren’t too many around, but I
learned while I was in Israel for
the recent Maccabiah, that the
Tel Aviv five had snared Bob
Fleisher, formerly of Duke and a
member of the 1973 United
States Maccabiah team.
Fleisher had been playing
with great success in Italy the
past couple of years and is
presently the most prominent
Jewish basketball player eligi
ble, with one possible exception
which we shall talk about in a
moment. In order to secure the
Duke alumnus, it is rumored
very strongly, Maccabi Tel Aviv
is paying him in the vicinity of
335,000 to $40,000 for his ser
vices. One advantage in having
Fleisher is that since he is
Jewish he may play in the
National League games, as con
trasted with Aulcie Perry, the
giant Black performer from
Newark, New Jersey, who can
only play in the European Cup
games. At any rate, the Maccabi
Tel Aviv quintet has made a
strong strike in luring Fleisher
from Italy to Israel.
It is not an easy decision for
an American Jewish player to
make concerning Israeli play
because he has to become a dual
citisen and as such is eligible for
army duty, which nobody exact
ly relishes.
While they were in the process
of signing Flsisher, the Maccabi
manager was in touch with
several of the United States
Maccabiah basketball team
players to see if any of them
were interested in joining the
fold, and received negative
replies from those who were
Tel Aviv team, led by Aulcie
cup this year.
three top-flight Jewish players
and possibly a non-Jewish All-
American player to cope with
Aulcie Perry of the Maccabi five.
Neil Walk, formerly of
Phoenix and. the New. York
Knicks, is up for grabs, and it
remains to be seen whether the
Hapoel contingent can land him.
At this very moment he is
dickering with an Italian
quintet, and there seems to be a
strong likelihood he will sign
with them since there seems to
be more money in Italy than
Israel for basketball purposes.
When it comes to money, the
boys think twice, and while they
may have an inclination or
desire to play in Israel, self
sustenance comes first, and it is
tough to convince them
otherwise. Walk has been con
tacted and is being spoken to by
the visitors.
It strikes me that the Israelis
are going far overboard in their
zeal to come up with top-flight
material. Winning means a lot,
but it isn’t everything and it
shouldn’t be acquired at any
cost. The country is in a state of
economic plight, and one
wonders how the people will
receive the news of yet another
American coming over to play
basketball at a salary which
probably is 10 times what the
average Israeli family collects.
Yet the Israeli sports fan is so
nutty he is apt to “buy” the new
comer with open arms.
The whole country went
bananas when the Maccabi Tel
Aviv five won the Eurogwan Cup
championship and now the
pressure is on the other three
major sports bodies — Hapoel,
Elisur and Be tar — to duplicate
this accomplishment^ As a
result, the respective com
petitive dubs are offering
money as though it is going out
of style.
It is no secret that this team
thought it had a chance to secure
Ernie Grunfeld, who recently
graduated from Tennessee and
first draft pick of the
eligible Hi. .aukee Bucks in the NBA.
At the same time the Maccabi An effort was made to land Er-
five is working the Israel side of hie, and the figure offered him
the strdstt their prime op- was extremely high, but it still
ponenta, Hapoel Tel Aviv, have could not match what GnihfWd
two emissaries in the States will receive ultimately from the
now, Sam Jacobson, the coach, . Milwaukee Bucks, but the fact
and a high official in the Hapoel that the Israelis went after him
sports program, to dee what «an « indicative of bow much
be dene about securing two or basketball and winning means to
Perry (left), won the European
them.
How long this Spiral can con
tinue is a matter of conjecture,
but if all of the clubs go in for
heavy money recruiting of
players it is safe to assume that
the Israeli National Basketball
League might in a few years go
bankrupt.